Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway

Wednesday June 13, 2018 at 1:58pm

After the bad weather over the Easter period which saw no classes of the ACU Championships run at the event. The Summernationals (June 30 – July 1) will be the first event to start the 2018 season of the ACU Championships and with many personal bests set at the Main Event, it could be another meeting, which sees more personal best and records.Top Fuel Bike.Reigning ACU Top Fuel Bike Champion Steve Woollatt starts his defence of the title and will be hoping to sort out his clutch issue. Former Champion Rene Van Den Berg makes his first appearance in 2018. Reigning ACU Funny Bike Champion Allan Davies made his debut at the Main Event in SuperTwins with his Puma powered V Twin, which he qualified for the eliminations. Al Smith has been doing a lot of testing on Phil Baimbridge Fuel bike.Funny Bike.Lorcan Parnell stunned the crowd at the Main Event when he ran 6.740-218.00mph during the eliminations and will be the man to beat for this event. Eric Richard will be hoping to continue his recent form of 6.9secs and Warpspeed rider Stuart Crane will be doing some testing. Former ACU Funny Bike Champion Phil Crossley was pleased with the new frame at the Main Event and will be putting more power in and hoping to dip into the low sevens. Dave Peters will be using his small motor, new bigger motor is going to be used later in the season. Holland’s Kars Van Den Belt has run 7.1secs and with the new concrete surface may see him run into the sixes.Pro Stock Bike.Reigning ACU Pro Stock Bike Champion Len Paget starts his defence of the title. Ian Burns fitted a new bodywork late last year and where looking for a set up for chassis in a bid to run in the sevens. Comp Bike.There is an international flavour in Comp Bike with seven riders from Holland entered as part of the nineteen bikes competing in the class. Sean Mills will be the man to watch out for having run low sevens last season and setting a new ACU speed record. Paul Hambridge and Sigmaro Profas have run mid sevens. Mick Winyard, Dave Batcheler, Martin Walker, and Margot Schmidt are also seven- second runners. John McLean makes his debut with his new bike. Daniel Bergelin will be on Allan Davies championship winning bike. Super Street Bike. After winning and setting a new European ET record at the Main Event Steve Venables will be the man everybody has to beat. He is the only rider this season so far that has run a six-second pass. Reigning ACU Super Street Bike Champion Richard Stubbins will be hoping to back on his winning form from Hungary after an engine issue at the Main Event. Graham Balchin is another rider who has won events in the past. Stephen Mead ran personal figures at the Main Event and was very close to his first 200mph.Another rider who ran personal best figures at the Main Event is Rudolfo Maduro and is still tuning his chassis. Mark Dainty makes his debut in the class. Report by Steven Moxley